Gerard Huysman Dutch, b. 1953

Gerard Huysman (1953, Zaandam) studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam from 1973 to 1978. He finds his subjects in the city or on the outskirts of the city. Atmospheric conditions play an important role in this. A street, a vista or a nineteenth-century building are the subjects, but the most important element in his paintings is the light.

Huysman started out as an open-air painter, working directly from the subject. Much of the touch and use of colour he developed in this way can also be found in his later work. He is not concerned with the buildings or the architecture, but mainly with the representation of light, as he himself says: 'The inspiration for a painting is often a striking light falling on a random spot in the city. Half an hour earlier or later, the light can be so different that there is no longer any reason to paint it."

What becomes visible in his paintings is the warm light of a summer evening or the bluish, bright light of a cold spring morning in the city. Everything is rendered in a realistic style, with attention to detail without detracting from the spatiality of the image. Striking features of his work are the sober use of colour and his balanced compositions; everything is completely clear and seems to be unshakably in its place.

His paintings are included in many private and other collections, such as those of Leiden University, the Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Stadscollectie Rotterdam, Erasmus University Rotterdam, ING Bank, Zwolsche Algemeene, and Unilever.